Rukia Kuchiki
Rukia Kuchiki (朽木 ルキア, Kuchiki Rukia) is a Shinigami of the Thirteenth Division, under Captain Jūshirō Ukitake. Rukia is the adoptive sister of Byakuya Kuchiki and a friend of Ichigo Kurosaki. Appearance Short and petite, Rukia has light skin and violet-colored eyes. Her hair is black, with several strands of hair always hanging between her eyes. Byakuya has stated she strongly resembles her sister, Hisana Kuchiki.Bleach manga; Chapter 179, page 10 As a Shinigami of the Gotei 13, Rukia wears a standard shihakushō. Personality Initially born into a lower class, Rukia retains her modesty, even as an adopted member of the nobility. She is graceful, yet chooses to talk to ordinary people. However, her cool and lone demeanor often forces her to hide her personal troubles, even from her friends. According to Ukitake, Rukia never opens up her heart, and has difficulty making friends.Bleach manga; Chapter 230, page 2 Rukia is clueless about the ways of the modern Human World.Bleach manga; Chapter 7, pages 5-8''Bleach'' manga; Chapter 15, pages 7-8''Bleach'' manga; Chapter 27, page 17''Bleach'' manga; Chapter 34, page 11 She is very good at acting, having acted her way through a number of tough situations, such as getting out of trouble with school teachers''Bleach'' manga; Chapter 33, pages 6-8 and convincing the Kurosaki Family to let her stay at their house.Bleach manga; Chapter 199, pages 1-2 Rukia always has trouble finding clothes that fit her, especially when inhabiting a Gigai in the Human World, leading to her stealing clothes from Ichigo's sister, Yuzu.Bleach manga; Chapter 3, pages 14-16 She likes to climb to high places. Rukia likes everything rabbit-themed,Bleach anime; Episode 70 and becomes quite sensitive when someone insults her obsession with them.Bleach manga; Chapter 13, page 15 People often have difficulty understanding her drawings, which are typically rabbit-like, and doesn't like it when people complain about their quality.Bleach manga; Chapter 1, page 20''Bleach'' manga; Chapter 3, page 4''Bleach'' manga; Chapter 197, page 12 Rukia's favorite foods are cucumber, eggs, and rice dumplings. History Plot Agent of the Shinigami Arc Rukia first appears in Karakura Town, at 2:23 a.m. of a Friday, searching for a strong spiritual activity. In the evening on the same day, Rukia enters Ichigo Kurosaki's room by his window and steps in front of him, saying the strong spritual activity she had been searching for is near. Not expecting a human to be able to see her, Ichigo kicks her from behind, sending her crashing to the room's floor. Ichigo accuses Rukia of being a burglar and of being searching for the safe. As she is still wondering how Ichigo can see her, Isshin Kurosaki suddenly crashes into the room and dropkicks him from behind. As they get into an argument over her presence in the room, Rukia tells Ichigo that no ordinary human like his father can see her, because she is a Shinigami. Rukia then explains to Ichigo that she comes from Soul Society to exterminate evil spirits, but Ichigo doesn't believe her and flips the table on her. She asks him how he can't believe in Shinigami when he can see ghosts, to which he replies he never saw a Shinigami to know and that he doesn't believe on what he doesn't see. Ichigo acknowledges that Rukia isn't human since his father couldn't see her, but tells her to quit on making him believe that she is a Shinigami, calls her a little brat and tries to force her out of the room. Angry, Rukia casts Bakudō #1: Sai, a Kidō spell, on Ichigo. The spell forces both of Ichigo's hands behind his back and she pushes him to the ground with her foot, before explaining that Kidō is an advanced technique that only Shinigami can use. Rukia then claims to be about 10 times older than Ichigo and, therefore, claims she should kill him for calling her a little brat, but that she won't do it because it's against the law to kill humans without specific orders. Rukia calls Ichigo a little brat and seemingly brings her sword down on him, but instead performs Konsō on the spirit that had been haunting Ichigo lately. As the ghost is afraid of being sent to Hell, Rukia calms him down by saying that she's sending him to a beautiful place called Soul Society. The ghost disappears causing Ichigo to ask her where she sent him. Rukia then explains to Ichigo that sending ghosts to Soul Society is a Shinigami's duty and the equivalent to what humans call "going to heaven". Rukia continues her explanation with the help of some of her own illustrations. She explains that there are two types of souls: one called Plus, which is the most common spirit; and the other called Hollow, evil spirits that attack living beings and dead beings alike to feed on their souls. Rukia asks if Ichigo has any questions, to which he asks why her drawings are so bad. She ends up drawing a big mustache on his face as punishment. Rukia says that Shinigami have two duties: one is to guide the Pluses to Soul Society through Konsō; the other is to exterminate the Hollows. She also informs him that her current mission is the later, causing Ichigo to ask if there are Hollows nearby. As she answers positively, Ichigo tells her to stop fooling around and to go get rid of it, but Rukia claims she can't sense the Hollow anymore. Rukia claims there's a great power hindering her senses and Ichigo asks her if she didn't hear the loud noise. Only then does Rukia hear it and she immediately identifies it as the cry of a Hollow. She continues to wonder about that great power and how Ichigo heard the Hollow before her who is a Shinigami. They suddenly hear Yuzu, one of Ichigo's younger sisters, crying in pain. Ichigo asks Rukia if that first noise was a Hollow, something Rukia confirms before she tells him she will get rid of it. Saying that the Hollow attacked his family, Ichigo demands Rukia to release the spell she cast on him, but she refuses as she believes there's nothing he can do to help. As Rukia opens the door of Ichigo's room, she gets startled by Fishbone D's spiritual pressure and wonders how she didn't feel it before. As Rukia opens the door's room, Karin crawls towards it and is able to see that Ichigo is alright. She quickly explains how everything happened downstairs, before she loses consciousness. Rukia checks on her, while Ichigo forcefully attempts to break free of her spell. She warns him not do it as he is only a human and that, most likely, there would be damage to his soul if he tried to do it. Nonetheless, Ichigo is able to break free of Rukia's spell, much to her shock. He grabs his baseball bat and goes downstairs, leaving her wondering how what she saw was possible. Rukia follows Ichigo outside, in time to save him from Fishbone D's second attack by cutting through his right arm with her Zanpakutō, causing him to release Yuzu. Ichigo is able to catch her and tends to her, until Rukia tells him to focus. Rukia assures him none of the souls of Ichigo's family members has been eaten yet. Ichigo then questions her on why the Hollow is attacking his family if he doesn't want to eat their souls, which is the motive for all Hollow attacks, according to Rukia. She explains that Hollows wander searching for souls with high spiritual power and that for that, arbitrary humans are sometimes attacked. Rukia then tells him that she has never seen or heard of a human who can see Shinigami and defeat their Kidō spells on their own or of a human with such high spiritual power. Rukia then deduces the Hollow is there to get Ichigo. He then asks if everything happening around him is his fault, but before Rukia can answer, Fishbone D attacks her from behind and punches her away towards a nearby wall. Rukia curses her lack of concentration, before she notices Ichigo challenging Fishbone D into attacking him. wall. Fishbone D then moves to attack Ichigo once again and attempts to devour him, but Rukia intercepts him and uses her own body and Zanpakutō to block the attack and injure Fishbone D's mouth. Rukia tells him once again he doesn't have the power to fight a Hollow and asks him if he thought if everything would end if Fishbone D got Ichigo's soul. He asks her to forgive him. Rukia tells him that she's no longer able to fight and that they should just wait until they become his food. As Ichigo starts to curse himself, Rukia asks him if he wants to save his family. As he asks her how, Rukia points her Zanpakutō towards him and tells him he must become a Shinigami. Rukia tells Ichigo she has to pierce the middle of his chest with her Zanpakutō and insert half of her Shinigami power, in order for Ichigo to temporarily have Shinigami powers and to be able to fight the Hollow on equal terms. Ichigo asks Rukia if it's alright to do something like that, to which she replies that the chance of success is low and that he'll die if it fails. They then hear Yuzu talking in her sleep, telling Ichigo to go away as it is dangerous there. After thinking about it for a short moment, Ichigo steps forward and accepts to try out Rukia's idea. Rukia tells him to stop calling her Shinigami and formally introduces herself. He does the same and grabs hold of the blade of Rukia's Zanpakutō, before they drive it through Ichigo's chest. As Rukia and Ichigo try to put in motion their plan to make Ichigo a Shinigami, Fishbone D charges towards them. Before he can reach them though, his left arm is cut off and Ichigo appears behind him, wearing a black kimono and wielding a humongous Zanpakutō. Rukia, her kimono now being just white, wonders how her power was all taken away by Ichigo. She then realizes that the spiritual pressure pouring out of Ichigo was what was blocking Rukia's senses earlier. She also says to herself that she has never seen a Zanpakutō, which changes form in response to the spiritual power of the Shinigami that wields it become so large. Rukia then watches Ichigo defeat Fishbone D. Equipment Pepper Ball: Rukia has used pepper-filled balls, along with a baseball pitching machine in order to train Ichigo Kurosaki. Broom: Rukia has used a broom as a weapon, using it to punish Kon. Powers & Abilities Trivia Quotes References Category:Female Category:Shinigami Category:Characters Category:Gotei 13 Category:13th Division Category:Kuchiki Clan Category:Unseated Officers